No response from Seneca Bay Apartment management upon repeatedly inquiring about refund of the 300$ security deposit. I was told I was not the only one on this boat, which means there are several other renters of Seneca Bay apartment suffering.
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The Bethany Group in Arizona is not paying or refunding security deposits to previous residents. This is a shame you complete your lease, and leave the apartment and good condition and they won't refund your deposit. It is crazy, and it is with all 13 apartment communities in Arizona. Beware of the Bethany Group!!! Also Arizona states if refund is not returned in 14 business days you get two times the amount of rent.

I am fighting the same battle after moving from a Bethany Group property in Portsmouth, VA. They currently are overdue with a refund exceeding $1000. There was little action from the property or regional manager on my behalf, so I took it upon myself to escalate the matter. Here are the email addresses for the CEO, CFO and VP:

Within 24 hrs. of sending an email to Jeff Silverman explaining the problems with my refund, he responded and forwarded my message to the accounts payable manager. Her name is Michelle Goss (Michelle.[protected]@bethanygrp.com). Within another 24 hrs. she had cut a check and overnighted it via DHL.

So after 2 weeks of red tape, road blocks and frustration, Mr. Silverman and Ms. Goss were able to resolve the situation within 2 days.

Good luck to all others who are having trouble with The Bethany Group.

im a bathtub rfinisher and have worked for bethany group for over ayear now and they owe me 60, ooo and ive been waiting almost a year with, promises its coming its coming, well im tired of being put on the back burner we are not talking about a few hundred we are talking about 60k, ive done the work and residents are living in the units and paying there rent and i can get my money for the refinishing of bathtubs her come a law suit

I live in a Bethany owned property as well, Woodland Village in Columbia, SC. I have gone for a month now without hot water. The landscaping here was so horrendous that they sent a property Manager, Phil who has an AWFUL attitude by the way, over to do some makeshift landscaping. Seems Bethany owes a few landscapers in my area money so no one will do the work. Well during the process my windshield was broken...yet to be contacted regarding that. I am always told that corporate is handling it. This was 9/8/08...it is now 11/30/08. And as I mentioned earlier, ONE MONTH WITHOUT HOT WATER!!! This does not even scratch the surface of the other maintenance issues I have had. I am always greated by someone in the leasing office with a major attitude like I am bothering them for wanting the apartment I pay damn near $1000.00 in rent for each month to be habitable! I am going to contact a lawyer. I am so tired of this. Thanks for the e-mail address! I will be sure to send them a nice message stating my grievances.

I filed a complaint @ http://www.azag.gov/consumer/ in the hopes the Attorney General will get involved in this. They are listing their apartments as custom built homes with fine finishes, ect. They show you a model which is not the apartment on your lease. The apartment on your lease is run down and infested with roaches. They do not respond to phone calls. Greg Garmon has yet to return my messages. They refuse to respond to the complaints, but they will tell you what you will pay to get out of here, they just won't address the reasons for your leaving. I guess customer service is not in their code of ethics. I would recommend anyone with a complaint be sure to include the parent company Bethany Group.
CONSUMERAFFAIRS.COM also provides a way to file a complaint which may result in an attorney contacting you to help you.
Most cities have a code enforcement department. I suggest you look it up online, take pictures of any electrical hazards (dented, broken electrical boxes), health hazards (broken or missing sewer access covers), overflowing dumpsters/trash cans, feces on the ground, missing light fixtures (or broken ones), furniture outside (by dumpsters, or any public areas)
Mesa Arizona has a site http://www.mesaaz.gov/codecomp/report_violation.aspx that will taken action against owners who fail to maintain their properties.
Good luck to you all. I will be fighting the good fight until I move.

DO NOT FEEL BAD WE DID WORK FOR THE BETHANY GROUP AND ARE STILL OWED 214, 000 HAVE 2 KIDS IN COLLEGE AND 1 AT HOME YET MR. SILVERMAN DRIVES HIS BENTLEY AND GETS A PAY CHECK BUT THE CONTRACTERS ARE LEFT OUT TO DRY HOW FAIR IS THIS WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SHARE SOME CRIMINAL THINGS THAT BETHANY HAS DONE YOU WOULD BE AMAZED KEEPING FIRE INSURANCE MONEY FOR THEMSELVES LYING TO THE BANK ABOUT WHO AND WHAT IS GETTING PAID I COULD GO ON FOREVER BUT VTHESE PEOPLE ARE REALLY BAD NEWS

As an employee of Bethany Management we are also not be paid on time-but we are held hostage because we are also residents and like you, victims of the crappy economy. If you only knew what was going on behind the scenes...I apologize on behalf of the staff for all of the different places that there have been problems and you have not been paid but please understand that this is happening at the top, the property teams are all taking the heat for it. Due to the economy we are stuck-slowly trying to find other jobs but stuck none the less. We are still waiting on checks that should have been given out 6 days ago! While 6 days is nothing compared to the time that many of you have been waiting-this is our sole income. We do NOT get free rent, we still have child care, car notes and some of us have mortgages and rent not to mention food and utilities.
I know that many of you will not care because you may see us as the enemy, but thats honestly not who we are.
Please be sure to contact these people:
Greg.[protected]@bethanygrp.com
Jason.[protected]@bethanygrp.com
Jeff.[protected]@bethanygrp.com

I think the position that the Bethany Group is in is a direct result from poor management and no support from the executive team. Just let the company go under so that we can be reorganized and managed by people who actually are educated and know what they are doing. Greg, Jeff, Kevin, Jason and Beverly are all a joke and need to have their priorities double checked because they are all under achievers in all of Bethany's book! They lie cheat and I'm sure they steal (Insurance claims, rent money that was posted disappearing, and so forth and so on.). Yet they claim each and every unprofessional and informal email that they are working on it. I think the only thing they are working on is a way out of the mess in which they have created, good luck you losers, I hope you all are on the street in 6-months! Now for all of you out there affected by this dismal excuse for a company, please call them at 949-660-0677 or email all of them at:
Greg.[protected]@bethanygrp.com
Jeff.[protected]@bethanygrp.com
Beverly.[protected]@bethanygrp.com
Kevin.[protected]@bethanygrp.com

Their employees aren't getting paid, their vendors aren't getting paid, and so basically as an outside voice I wouldn't do any kind of business with these punks! Unless of course you want to volunteer! This company needs to be taken out of the economy for good because they obviously couldn't manage a kindergarten class! IDIOTS!

I was an employee with bethany grp up to 2 weeks ago and my car is going to be repossed tomorrow due to the fact that it has been 1 month since I have rec'd a payscheck. I lived on site and the property mananger had the nerve to ask me for rent even though I hadn't rec'd a paycheck for over amonth. As greg garmon rides around in his bentley ..I will begin riding a bus. I want to apologize to all the residents in how they have been treated by the property managers and I am sorry for not realizing what was going on until the end.

DO NOT PAY YOUR RENT...CHECK WITH AN ATTORNEY BECAUSE IF AN APARTMENT COMPLEX IS IN FORECLOSURE AND/OR IN THE MIDDLE OF BK..BY LAW YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY YOUR RENT AND ALSO YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FULLFILL THE TERMS OF YOUR CURRENT LEASE. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR UP TO 2 MONTHS..BUT HELL THEY HAVE YOUR SECURITY DEPOSIT THAT SHOULD COVER WHAT THEY WILL TRY TO GET FROM YOU..ONCE AGAIN ..DO NOT PAY YOUR RENT AND TAKE THAT MONEY AND GO TO ANOTHER PROPERTY..BUT PLEASE CHECK THEIR BACKGROUND FIRST

I was a former Regional for this company and have been in the business for over 20 years. After 8 months of listening to lies from the corporate office and basically being told "we are working on funding and re positioning" I was msart enough to see the writing on the wall.

I gave a 30 day notice and got the hell out! Problem was I spent nearly 5 months looking for work. Even with all of this I am still happy as hell that I left. What I can tell you is that this companies executives were extremely wasteful with money electing to jet set all over the world and spend tons of dollars on corporate retreats instead of paying vendors who worked very hard and provided quality work.

Once I started questioning decisions being made and the fact that vendors were not being paid I was told that I had a bad attitude and was not a good fit for the company. I guess not since I would not lie to vendors or employees and that is obviously what they wanted.

I have done a lot of research on the facts and I can tell you that the reason many of their vendors, employees, past residents were not being paid is simply because they do not have the funds. They wasted so much money it is ridiculous to even fathom.

Mismanagement is only the begining of what has happened with this company. Many of their executives do not have the experience needed to run a multi-million dollar management company hence another reason why this has been such a fiasco.

Trust me when I say we have all suffered. I am very sorry for those vendors who are stuck with thousands in unpaid work but the best thing to do is to file a lein at the courthouse because they cannot sell until those debts are paid.

The Bethany Group is in serious trouble, Please if anyone has info regarding the bank who has taken over as of Friday please pass this info on, thankfully I was terminated from The Bethany Group, best thing that ever happened to me. I am also saddened that the residents blame the office staff and maintenance staff while in all reality we worked for a bunch of crooks. I wish the residents luck. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY YOUR RENT< but please do put it in ESCROW!

If ANYONE has the bank info that has taken over, please, please please email it to me at [protected]@msn.com

Good luck to everyone who lost there job on Friday, there is a life out there working for people who pay bills and wish to do good for a company and residents. Anyone in the MS, AL, GA, SC area, email the above email address. There may be job opportunities available.

Well as of today in Phoenix Arizona at the Coves at Newport it was announced that this property and eleven other propertys in az could be forclused on. I am wondering if any of you know if any of the other states propertys have been forclosed and if so how long did you have to get your stuff and go?? I knew this was coming for a long time with all the dis connect notices we have recieved and the trashy complex I hope it does forclose because it has been hell living here and im sure everyone here can be better off somewhere else.

I live in one fo the bethany group apartments here in Houston. Seeing what has happened with other Bethany Group apartments across the nation, I am wondering If my apartment complex is next. (It seems like it), the grass has not been cut in months, we have burst sewer pipe and the leasing office is closed. According to the office manager they have not been paid in about a month.

My lease is up in April. I plan to move out, but who do I hand over the keys to? Who should I pay rent to? Lastly who do I give my end of lease notice to? Am not even going to ask about my security deposit, i will be lucky if I get it back.

Bethany Group LLC, owner of seven apartment groups across the country, made the filings in three of its investment portfolios, which collectively own nearly 5, 000 units in Texas and Maryland.

According to the company, all three investment portfolios are cash-flow positive and are paying off about $400 million in loans on a timely basis. But the company’s entities fell into non-cash defaults after loan-to- value ratios fell below minimum thresholds, apparently due to falling property values.

As a result, lenders — including the bankrupt Lehman Brothers — gained control of rent payments and refused to release any of that cash to meet payroll, pay utility bills and pay contractors, said Evan Smiley, the Costa Mesa attorney handling the filings.

“The properties are actually very good properties and produce a lot of cash flow, ” Smiley said tonight in a phone interview.

Typically, under such non-cash defaults, the rent payments go into an account controlled by lenders, who ensure that loan payments are made and that surplus cash goes to pay bills, Smiley said. But Bethany’s lenders aren’t releasing any of that cash, he said.

The company alleged that “lenders … in effect starved the Debtors of the cash necessary to pay operating expenses.” The Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases seek to release the cash so the bills can get paid. The cash is more than sufficient to pay the bills, said Smiley.

The problems apparently are affecting Bethany-owned complexes outside of the ones included in the bankruptcy filings. News reports surfaced this week in Arizona, Florida and Maryland with tales about unpaid utilities and employees without paychecks for a month.